[Human limbal epithelial cell growth kinetics in vitro]. / Cinétique de croissance in vitro des cellules épithéliales cultivées à partir d'explants limbiques humains.

PURPOSE: To assess limbal epithelial cell growth kinetics in vitro using tissue retrieved from organ-cultured donor corneas. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-one limbal explants were retrieved from corneoscleral rims of donor corneal grafts preserved for 18-24 days in organ culture. The explants were cultured at 37°C for 10, 13, or 18 days. The epithelial cell sheet area was measured during culture by means of morphometry. At the end of culture, the dissociated cells were counted and analyzed by immunocytochemistry. RESULTS: The curve of the epithelial cell sheet area (S) in relation to culture time (t) was best fitted by a polynomial model (S=0.024t(3) - 0.038t(2) - 0.044t + 0.092). The average duration of the cell cycle was 24h. Cell growth decreased as donor tissue retrieval postmortem time increased. Cultured cells featured various expressions of cytokeratin-3 ranging from absent (few cells) to strong. More than 50% of cells expressed vimentin. CONCLUSION: Limbal tissue retrieved from donor tissue that was organ-cultured for 3 weeks maintains a potential for cell renewal and growth compatible with clinical use for limbal allograft transplantation or cultured stem cell transplantation. However, cell growth potential is impaired by donor postmortem ischemia, which implies that tissue must be retrieved as soon as possible after donor death.

[Value of omeprazole in the treatment of collagenous colitis]. / Intérêt de l'oméprazole dans le traitement de la colite collagène.

The authors report the case of a patient suffering from collagen colitis in whom the administration of omeprazole achieved the rapid and total abolition of the clinical signs and a significant reduction of the collagen band (measurements determined over 10 cryptic spaces using a graduated micrometric ocular microscope). Although the outcome of this disorder is variable, with the possibility of spontaneous recovery or, more frequently, of remission, the authors consider, in their conclusions, that omeprazole may have a beneficial effect in this disorder even though the mechanism for this has not been established.

[Epidemiology of filariasis (onchocerciasis and bancroftosis) in the Tala-Mokolo region (Mandara Mountains of North Cameroon)]. / Epidémiologie des filarioses (onchocercose et bancroftose) dans la région de Tala-Mokolo (Monts Mandara-Nord Cameroun).

The effect of the bancroftian filariasis on the health of the inhabitants are minimal in the study area, where the prevalence of the disease (nocturnal microfilaremia) is 0.4% only. But skin snips harboring Onchocerca microfilariae are seen in 12.1% of the sample studied. Onchocerciasis skin lesions, low visual acuity and blindness are often seen in the villages where the prevalence is high, among inhabitants more than 40 years of age. Simulium damnosum is seldom seen in the area, except in the large streams and rivers like the mayo Tsanaga and the mayo Djingliya. Larvae and nymphae of this species hardly succeed in developing on the overspelling of the small dams, this being due more to a discontinuous run of the water in the overspilling than to a to high speed of the water.